The success of mesothelioma treatments depends on the stage of the tumor at the time of detection. Doctors follow a few treatment strategies, both standard and modern. Conventional treatments include surgery, radiation and medications like chemotherapy or a mixture of two or three of these. More than two-thirds of stage-1 and stage-2 mesothelioma patients usually get their lives extended by five years or more, and surgery itself has succeeded in doing the same in around sixteen percent of all cases. Surgery involves removing the carcenogenic expansion through surgical cuts. The most typical surgery here is the decortication or pleurectomy in which the chest lining is removed. The extrapleural pneumonectomy ( EPP ), which removes the lining round the lung, inside the chest, the hemi-diaphragm and pericardium, is less common.

Radiation is best suited for patients with localized disease. Radiation is also resorted to post-operatively as a consolidating treatment. Sometimes the whole hemi-thorax is subjected to radiation in consonance with chemotherapy. This type of treatment has extended the lives of thousands of mesothelioma patients. Radiation can also act as a preventive measure against the spread of malignant cells.

In spite of all its side effects, chemotherapy has proved to be the best of all the present mesothelioma treatments imparted. It is a less aggressive treatment than radiation or surgery. The process is usually long drawn out, physically and emotionally difficult for the affected.

Advancements in the field of medical science are bringing forth new treatment methods for mesothelioma. But many of them have not produced stable results so far like immunotherapy that aims at improving the immune response of the body. Heated intraoperative intraperitoneal chemotherapy assists in increasing the penetration of anti-cancer drugs. Before being administered, the drugs are heated to a particular degree in this process. Ongoing researches give us the hope that better mesothelioma treatment options would be made available in the near future.

The scale of the illness, the age of the patient and his or her overall health are considered before starting treatment. Before starting the method, the patient needs to find out the best suitable treatment, its costs, advantages or disadvantages of the treatment plan followed, risk factors and chances of survival. In situations where assertive mesothelioma treatments are not possible, palliative treatment, which treats only the symptoms and not the real cause, is followed.